By: Laura Chapman
Assistant Sports Information Director
chapmal@juniata.edu • juniatasports.net
Photo: JD Cavrich 

HUNTINGDON, Pa. – The Juniata College men's and women's soccer teams will host King's College (Pa.) this Saturday in the first doubleheader of the season. Both Juniata teams are undefeated on the year. The women's team squares off first on Saturday at 1 p.m. with the men following up at 3:30 p.m.

The Eagles are 5-0 on the year after winning their home opener against Mount Aloysius last Thursday 3-0. Juniata is off to its best start under head coach Dan Dubois, having never started better than 2-0 before this year. Eagle goalkeepers Blaine Barsch (Englewood, Colo./Cherry Creek) and Jonathan Phillips (Bangor, Pa./Bangor) rank first and second, respectively, in the conference in save percentage and goals against average. The potent Eagle offense has senior Seth Ruggiero (Bangor, Pa./Bangor) and sophomore Dylan Thompson (Broomfield, Colo./Peak to Peak Charter) both nationally ranked in assists per game. 

The King's men opened their season with a grueling double-overtime game against Calbrini, the defending Colonial States Athletic Conference champion. The two teams traded shots for 110 minutes before the match ended in a 0-0 tie. The Monarchs followed the tie with a 1-0 loss to Elizabethtown before heading on the road. In the teams' two matches away from Willkes-Barre, King's took a 3-0 decision over Keystone College and edged out the 1-0 victory over Sage Colleges.

King's has gotten the better of the Eagles in the last four meetings between the two squads. The last time the two teams met on Winton Hill, in 2011, the match ended 1-0 in overtime when King's scored on a penalty kick.

"We're really looking forward to Saturday's game," said Dubois. "We're going to go out and try to put 90 minutes together at home. We figured out how to put 90 minutes together on the road, but to put 90 minutes together at home is different. It's emotional. You get to have your fans and your family there. To try to put 90 minutes together on our field against a very good King's team is going to be a lot of fun."

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